Creativity

Summer is over and thoughts are turning to annual budgeting, year-end parties and performance appraisals. Whilst these assessments/ appraisals/ reviews/ or whatever you call them are usually designed to motivate, many people find them a complete waste of time. However, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater! The feedback element of reviews is essential for motivation, communication, relationships, inclusion and innovation. In this post, I share 2 useful Management 3.0 practices that help to build intrinsic motivation, deepen relationship and improve communication.

Give credit where credit is due!

Recently I was reminded of the power of peer praise through the Management 3.0 Kudo Box. Let me state here I won’t get into another argument about whether it should be “kudo” or “kudos” grammatically!

All you need to focus on is that giving and receiving recognition between peers is an amazing amplifier of behaviour.

I’ve been using the Kudos Wall tool in communication and management workshops. Simple to set up, easy to explain and participants quickly engage. It’s been interesting to see what and how people recognize the contributions of others inside and outside of the training room.

At the end of the workshop, participants self-organize and choose a “kudos star”. I won’t give away the prize totally but it does allow them to bring home the ideas of giving kudos to their team!

All members get to take home their kudos cards as お土産 , a souvenir to remind them of what they were recognized for. It can be very moving to see the reactions of some participants who have spent their career only receiving “improvement points”. They experience the impact of “catch them doing something right”.

Samples to get started

Accessible and attractive cards

Final Kudos Wall

The people I work with are senior managers, experienced professionals who bring so much to the training room. The biggest takeaway from most training is sharing stories and experiences with their peers in a safe and supportive environment. The Kudos Wall has been a useful tool to share appreciation for those activities.

Real Time Feedback

A second element that you can work on is the time lag between the action and the feedback.

I’ve been using The Happiness Door during workshops to get real-time feedback from participants at lunchtime that I can then try to build into the afternoon session.

It’s a great communication tool that allows the facilitator of any meeting to get a read of the room. You can then shift the process, focus or energy as required to get the best outcomes.

In the speed of the business cycle, we often lose sight of the power of immediate feedback and miss the chance to amplify great behaviour by recognizing it. The Kudos Wall and The Happiness Door are simple ways to bring more of the good parts of performance reviews into your daily operations.

Points of You® x Ikigai: Finding your Ikigai as an English Speaker in Japan

“Ikigai” is the Japanese concept for living a life of purpose.
As an English speaker in Japan it can be easy to feel that your options are limited.

However, after a healthy amount of navel gazing in 2015, I realised that it is possible to do what I love, what I’m good at, what I can be paid for and what the world needs! My life has changed beyond measure – I have more joy, more fulfillment, more moments of flow and more financial freedom.

Now I’d like to help you to discover your Ikigai in a three-hour workshop using Points of You® and a follow up online 60-minute coaching session.

What is Points of You®?

Points of You® is a creative tool for individuals and groups, a tool developed to stimulate creativity and inspiration. Born in Israel, already translated into 19 languagesand widely used in 147 countries all over the world. In the Ikigai Workshop, you will use the “Faces” tool and in the online follow up coaching you will play The Coaching Game Online.

Who is Jennifer Shinkai?

Jennifer Shinkai is a certified Points of You® Trainer and regularly uses the tool in individual coaching, group workshops and facilitation. Her clients are global professionals working in diverse teams. Points of You® enables them to communicate complex and complicated ideas smoothly and gain insight into themselves and their team. With almost 20 years in Japan, she launched her own business in June 2016 after discovering the power of Ikigai! Read her full bio here.

Who is the workshop for?

English speakers living in Japan who feel that “something” is missing in their professional experience but can’t quite figure out what that missing thing is. The group workshop will help you to discover your ikigai and the private online coaching will help you to turn the insights into action,

On June 29th, 2018, I’m celebrating the start of my third year in business as a Facilitator and Leadership Coach. I am extremely grateful to my family, community and clients for enabling me to bring so much energy to my work, to help so many individuals improve their own performance as leaders and professionals in Japan. I’m so lucky to have the trust and support of so many wonderful people.

Thank you!

I am intensely focused on working with groups within organisations, developing cross-functional communication and deeper understanding of diverse points of view. I love the passionate discussions, aha moments and feedback about the impact the training had on team performance and relationships.

I’ve been able to take on some really interesting clients and projects. I’m really able to focus on work that I am passionate about rather than what pays the mortgage. What a gift!

I got hooked on Spartan Racing and completed another 2 races in Japan.

What trends have I noticed from corporate clients?

Increased desire to support employees through organizational change

Focus on creating cultures of open and healthy communication

Presenting and influencing others continues to be a highly sought after skillset

Maturing of the discussion from diversity as a single-issue gender model to addressing wider issues of inclusion in some clients

Developing innovation through inclusion of diverse thought

What can you expect from me in Year 3?

Themes for workshops and support will focus on:

Innovation through Inclusion

Developing Ikigai within your Organization

Resilience during Change

Connecting the Unconnected – people, ideas or companies

To support these outcomes, I’ll continue to offer presentation skills, cross-cultural training and Points of You® Practitioner Training. My focus is on developing bite-sized development opportunities with shorter workshop sessions, on the job experiments followed by group coaching and reflection.

I will continue to support work style reform and women’s empowerment in Japan through my CSR activities:

The Japan WIN conference has a special place in my heart. In 2016 I joined at a special rate for “women in transition” as I was moving from 12 years in a corporate role to begin working on my calling, my ikigai, to use my energy and passion to help people create and communicate change as part of diverse teams. It was at the event at the Shangri-la that I handed out my new meishi for the first time and as I delivered my self intro to over 100 people it can be fair to say that was a large amount of “fake it ’til you make it” tempered with a hefty dose of “imposter syndrome”.

When I realized that the speaker enrollment was open for the 2018 conference I decided that it was time to give back to the conference. thanks to my client testimonials I was selected as a workshop speaker and delivered a session “Rethinking your Strength: Shifting from Capability to Energy”.

Ever since I came upon Marcus Buckingham’s concept that “Strengths aren’t what you are good at. Strengths are what make you feel strong” during a Lean In Circle, I’ve been passionate about the power of doing what gives you energy. I also believe that we have more control about bringing this into our daily life than we may think.

In the 90 minute workshop, participants used cards from Points of You® The Coaching Game, Punctum and Faces to create their “Strengths Photo Album”. As always Points of You® delivered some “unexpected but precise” insights most commonly in hearing others describe their albums – a real view into the blind spot of the Johari Window.

My favourite comment from a participant was “I felt as if the scales had fallen from my eyes”. I have to say that for this to be achieved in 90 minutes makes me so happy as a facilitator and really impressed by how openly the delegates shared their hopes and dreams with others.

There were many great female role models at this event speaking with passion about their chosen topic and as always the Japan WIN conference was a great way to expand a network of like-minded people.

Looking for a new way to engage with your team members around your core values or key competencies in annual reviews?

Want to get beyond canned responses in behavioral interviews?

Using Points of You (R) The Coaching Game, you will be able to connect with your counterpart at a deeper level. You can drill down on interviewees’ key competencies in an engaging way. Whilst some behavioral interviews can feel very rehearsed (“Tell me about a time when you…”), using the Points of You (R) cards enables you to observe a more natural response as well as to see how the interviewee responds to new ideas.

In an appraisal scenario, this process will give your employee an opportunity to talk about the competencies or values in a new way. One of the key concepts of Points of You (R) is to break patterns. The process below will help you to connect with your team member in a different way and make the appraisal meaningful from the perspective of developing your professional relationship.

As part of my CSR activities, I was invited to be a part of the British School in Tokyo and Mums in Business Classroom to Boardroom Initiative for the second year running. You can see the layouts the interviewees created below. It was fascinating to see how the two young men were able to share very honest and open personal stories of struggle and achievement through this tool.

Process Flow

Tool: Punctum Points of You (R)
Punctum cards were used as they do not have topics assigned so it is easier to connect to the specific competency discussed. They are also more

Objective: An interview/ discussion about competencies that would not be filled with canned answers, that could not fully be prepared for. The ability to “dance in the moment” to be flexible and adaptable to new situations is an essential competency in any organization.

Process:
1. List up your corporate values, competencies. Ask participant to choose from the competencies. In this case we had 30 minutes so we covered 3 of 5 competencies.

2. Pick 3 cards (as relevant to the number of competencies), face up, to link with the chose competencies. In my example 2 cards represent competencies that are strengths, 1 represents an area which might hold you back. Notice which cards are rejected, where do the participants eyes hover, how easy is it for them to choose?

3. Ask the participant where they would like to start. Empower them to lead the discussion. You will be able to see how they structure information and how they present themselves. What can they see in the picture? How does it connect with the competency and their experience? Repeat for all cards.

4. At the end of the cards, ask the participant what insight about themselves they have gained. How can they turn that insight into action?

5. Your feedback
In an interview, you can then offer your observations. How do these competencies show up in your organization.
If this is an appraisal situation, you can offer your observations as well as clarifying what resources they might need and how you can support. What action can you commit to so you can support your employee?

To find out more about how you can use Points of You (R) in your talent development, change management and diversity and inclusion programmes, contact me to arrange a trial session for a small group to see the tool in action.

It’s a powerful tool for self-discovery, team building and leadership development, as well as at social gatherings and corporate settings. Played individually, one-on-one, by small and large groups, it can be easily adapted to every audience, objective and theme. And it’s fun!

Are you searching for ways to harness the innovative ideas of your diverse workforce?
Are you looking for an interactive workshop to mark International Women’s Day and increase collaboration across functions?
Would you like your team to experience a positive approach to solutions that allows different voices to be heard?

While many organizations in Japan are making efforts to increase diversity in terms of gender in the workforce, many companies feel that they are not able to truly leverage the unique views of the women they are hiring. The focus on the “what” and “who” of diversity, now needs to shift to the “how” of inclusion.

WinBE (Women In Business Empowerment) is a collective of three Japan-based
facilitators who are passionate about Diversity and Inclusion. In the month of March we want to help your company find more ways to harness the diverse perspectives of your women to inspire innovation.

What’s the workshop about?

In this three hour workshop, 10-100 of your employees can connect across divisions,hierarchies, gender and nationality. Using the Appreciative Inquiry approach they will create an Inclusive Meeting framework prototype that is unique to your organization.

Appreciative Inquiry is an asset-based approach to solutions that opens up your team to new ideas and perspectives. Workshop participants will discover how your organization can utilize existing strengths to develop further diversity and inclusion.

The workshop output will be a prototype design of ways that your organization can run meetings where innovation can be fostered. Meetings give voices to the diversity of thought, backgrounds and perspective. These meetings represent a different way to approach ideas and will move away from the status quo. As a follow-up activity, teams can implement in their work groups as a pilot program.

Who should attend?

The program is designed to be flexible in terms of number of participants with a minimum size of 10 and maximum size of 100. The facilitators can deliver in English and Japanese so can support an international audience. The workshop can be run across functions to increase collaboration and internal networking

Why March?

March is a busy time in many corporate calendars in Japan ahead of a new financial year as well as preparing for new graduate onboarding in April.
However, March also brings many different times when we think about women and their role in Japanese society.

We start with Hina Matsuri on March 3 rd where we pray for the growth and happiness of young girls. On March 8th , we celebrate International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. This year’s theme is #pressforprogress.And then on March 14th, there is White Day, where we repay the giri chocolates received a month before.

WinBE would like to leverage on this awareness. Instead of marshmallows and cookies, help your organization to empower your female employees to drive growth and innovation by creating meetings where multiple voices can be heard.

We are currently taking reservations for a limited number of workshops in March,
please contact Jennifer Shinkai for more information in English or Hiroko Shinoda for more information in Japanese.

About WinBE (Women in Business Empowerment)

Setsu Suzuki, Hiroko Shinoda, Jennifer Shinkai

WinBE @名古屋大学

WinBE @名古屋大学

WinBE is a collective of three Japan-based facilitators, Setsu Suzuki, Hiroko Shinoda and Jennifer Shinkai, who came together after meeting at the 2017 Global Summit of Women. As a trusted third party, we work with organizations in Japan to develop workplaces where high-potential female leaders can drive business results and contribute to innovation across products and solutions. With our backgrounds in coaching and global leadership development, we co-create solutions with our clients to develop inclusive workplaces.

We are currently taking reservations for a limited number of workshops in March,
please contact Jennifer Shinkai for more information in English or Hiroko Shinoda
for more information in Japanese.

10 Lean In Tokyo Girls on Fire Circle members from Australia, Columbia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the US and the UK met in November 2017 to get in touch with their creative sides with Adam Grant’s TED Talk, “The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers” as the launching point of our discussion.

With Lean In members from financial services, government institutions, luxury, legal and even a current university student, many people didn’t feel they had much chance to be creative on a daily basis. However, it became clear that we don’t need to be in a traditional “creative” role to be original thinkers. Indeed, many of us bring original solutions to our businesses every day.

A Points of You Ice breaker got us all talking about creativity and thinking about what opportunities we have to be creative at work. We shared our ideas on how to break out of some status quo situations by using creative doubt and pitched our ideas to each other.

Key Takeaways

“What you call procrastinating, I call thinking”

Allowing your idea to marinate a little is not always a bad thing. Just make sure you are not hiding by designing at the whiteboard!

“You don’t need to be first, but you do need to be better”

There is a lot of hype about hustle and first on the market advantage but Grant mentions examples of successful ideas that weren’t necessarily first but were an improvement on existing solutions. This iterative improvement is something that seems to be in the business DNA in Japan. Get someone else to take the risk, push the envelope and then kaizen it to perfection!

“People who achieve the most are also the ones who fail the most”

It was interesting to discuss this as mostly foreign women working in Japan. Sometimes we feel we can take more risks than our Japanese colleagues due to our “outsider” status. However, this can also make it difficult to build the social capital around an idea to get it to take root in an organization.

Don’t accept the default

In Grant’s TED talk he highlighted the most original thinkers are those who use Chrome or Firefox? Why? Because they don’t accept the default – they ask questions and go to an extra effort to find and then install the best solution. Wonderful example of questioning the status quo! What “straight out of the box defaults” have you accepted?

Why shouldn’t people support your idea?

Acknowledging the potential downsides up front can clear people’s negative thoughts out of the way and leave them more open to your solution.

It’s that time of year when we are inundated with invitations for 忘年会 bonenkai, “forget the year party” and 新年会 shinnenkai, “new year party”.

I’d like to offer you something a little different – your own personal bonenkai and shinnenkai coaching “Party Plan”! These limited 2-sessions will help you o celebrate your achievements, learn from any setbacks and set you up for a successful 2018.

These party plans come with a no hangover guarantee! And as they will take place online via Zoom conference, you won’t have to travel home on the train with a load of drunk salarymen! Sign up today or keep reading to find out more.

So what’s included?

Session 1: Bonenkai – End of Year Party

A guided 60-minute coaching session focusing on celebrating success.

Prior to the session, you can take the time to complete an end of year review. We can then focus on teasing out the main themes that will help you to see what your strengths are and how you can leverage them in 2018.

What have been some of my greatest achievements?
How did I overcome obstacles?
Which moments were most important to me?
What would I like to leave behind in 2017?

The output of this session will be used in Session 2: Shinnenkai

Session 2: Shinnenkai – New Year Party

Using the output from the Bonenkai session, you will be ready to set rich and motivating goals for 2018. Using the Four Tendencies Framework from Gretchen Rubin, you will be able to put in place structures that can support your top three goals.

What do I wish for myself for the new year?
What am I willing / want to do in order to achieve that?
How can I make goals that motivate me and move the needle on what I value?

Last week I invested in a closet detox with Tokyo based stylist, Corin Kanazawa. I’m now the proud owner of a pared down, easy to style capsule wardrobe as well as a whole new level of awareness on what works for me and what does not.

All through the 4 hour session, I was thinking…”Wow, this is a lot like coaching. There are a lot of parallels between this process and how clients grow during a coaching session.” Here they are, 9 coaching lessons from cleaning out your closet

“Because I’m worth it”

Investing in your development is essential but something we often shy away from. It feels frivolous, self-indulgent, a waste of money but as one client said to me “just signing up for coaching made me take myself seriously, think about myself differently. I felt like a L’Oreal advert ‘because I’m worth it’. It’s the first thing I have done just for me in the last 12 months.”

You also don’t need to invest in everything! Looking at quality. making mindful choices about what you really need and overcoming FOMO will leave you with a much richer life.

You already have changed

I found things that used to suit me but no longer do. Even though I love those items, I have to admit that they really don’t suit me anymore.

In coaching, those thoughts that protected you from embarrassment, vulnerability, don’t “suit” you anymore either. You are a different person now with different goals.

Clear goals matter

A stylist will ask you what you are trying to achieve with your wardrobe, just as a coach will drill down on those goals for your coaching sessions. Without a clear visualistaion of what success if going to look like and how you will measure it, the coaching sessions won’t have impact.

Those agreed goals are going to come back to you in your ongoing work so they had better be compelling and meaningful or you will not be able to commit to change.

Saying goodbye

As you clear out your closet, you will find things that are hard to part with. In coaching, you will have the same thing.

This is where the konmari method can help – showing reverence and saying thanks to the thing you are about to get rid of:

“Giving sincere thanks to an item will significantly reduce or even eliminate any guilt you may feel when you decide that you will no longer have it in your home.”

When we can kindly say goodye and thanks to these items and thoughts we can move on to a less cluttered mind without guilt. Try it!

Fresh pair of eyes and a different angle

Having an expert ask the difficult questions and open you up to new perspectives is so helpful.

By challenging the client and holding the goal up again, stylists and coaches help to keep clients on course. And of course, coaching is all about opening up to new perspectives.

“Of course, you can keep this “t-shirt/ underlying belief”. How will it help you to reach the goal you set at the beginning of the session?

Get a full length mirror and wear shoes in the house

You need to be able to see yourself from top to toe. In coaching, using psychometric tools like Saville Wave can be one way to understand your competencies. Combine that with feedback, visualisation, and weekly check ins are ways to raise your own self awareness, to see yourself warts and all!

And shoes in the house? A Japan specific issue but how can you really know what your outfit looks like in your socks? Be creative and find a way to put everything together (even if it means stretching cultural norms!)

Ditch the yoga pants… unless you are doing yoga

Stop wearing your pjs to the shops – those comfort clothes “for around the house” – well we usually go our the house in them too.

“All coaching is life coaching after the third session,” is a common refrain from Master Coaches at the International Coach Academy. Like our slobby clothes, we end up going out with old beliefs and thoughts leading our actions. Whilst they might have been helpful in the past, these beliefs don’t serve us anymore. So ditch ’em!

Play and experiment

It won’t be natural but this is why you invested in the session. If you go back to the same old closet standards and beliefs, why did you bother?

The work you do outside the session and the new awareness you bring to your goals is more important than the session itself!

Trying a tool like Points of You (watch this space for session info!) makes you look at your issue in a new light and opens up the possibility of a insight and growth.

Creating autonomy and support

“I can’t be here to style you everyday. You need to be able to put new outfits together based on what we discussed. You can send me a picture and I can give you feedback”

Corin’s goal was to give me enough insight into my own needs that I can style myself. She was also available as a sounding board.

As a coach, my goal is to help clients create and communicate change in their lives, to give them the awareness and tools to “style themselves” everyday.

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So, there you have it, 9 coaching lessons from cleaning out your closet! Who knew that there would be so many parallels in chucking out a load of old clothes and your personal growth?

Want to clear out the clutter in your mental closet? Contact me for a 30 minute discovery session today and find out how we can work together.

Based in Tokyo and want to clear out your actual closet? Be sure to contact Corin Kanazawa Stylist through her FB page.